Thanksgiving 2025

'Tis the season...

Let the holiday frenzy begin!

Like it didn’t begin before Labor Day…

“The holidays” as gift-giving occasions have been around for centuries, though nowhere near on the scale as we have in the US.

This image, a Saturday Evening Post cover from 1943 entitled “Refugee Thanksgiving,” sums up what I believe everyone should aspire to: truly giving thanks for what we have. The woman’s saying her blessing over a mess kit pan of food, wearing a US Army First Sergeant’s overcoat, and is no doubt thankful just to have those things, and to be alive. She won’t go hungry tonight, and she’ll be a little warmer. Thankful indeed.

Now this one, from the Saturday Evening Post again in 1948, is called “The Lineman,” may be an unusual subject for a holiday cover…but is it? This guy and his crew are out in the cold stringing line for everyone else, missing out on his own holiday get-together with the in-laws and outlaws…but they’re doing what we need them to do so we have power for our holiday meals. We should be thankful to them, too.

Finally, this image from 1945, called “Mother and Son Peeling Potatoes.” She’s older; he’s no child and has seen some service somewhere. But he’s been home for a little while; wearing slippers instead of his regulation brogans, but his uniform might be the only thing he owns that fits. She’s thankful he’s home, and so is she, because both of them know she doesn’t have that many Thanksgivings left to spend with her boy, or with anyone else. So, yeah, they both have something to be thankful for…just being together.

Think about it.

Happy Day, everyone!